Saints Split With Kirkwood in Home Opening Doubleheader

LIBERAL, Kan. – The Seward baseball squad hosted No. 18-ranked D2 Kirkwood Community College on Saturday afternoon for the first home games of the 2026 season.

The two squads traded offensive outbursts with Seward (2-2) winning 14-4 in a run rule in game one before Kirkwood (1-1) won 16-7 in game two.

Game 1: Seward 14, Kirkwood 4 (5 inn.)

Seward mashed four home runs and saw five players with multi-hit games as they cruised to a 14-4 win in game one.

Kirkwood took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and Seward did not lead until they plated three runs in the third to make it 4-3. Kirkwood added a run in the top of the fourth tying the game at four but Seward plated 10 runs over the fourth and fifth innings to secure the win.

Isai Santaella, Hayden Ramage, Blaine Chancy, Grant Cox, and Cooper Turner each had two hits with Chancy driving in a team-high four runs.

Brooks Kappelmann got the start on the mound throwing 3.0 innings allowing three runs on four hits, striking out four and walking three. Ashton Creighton (W, 1-0) earned the win tossing the final 2.0 innings allowing a lone run on two hits.

Game 2: Kirkwood 16, Seward 7

Seward took a 2-0 lead in the first inning but the Eagles hung four runs in the second and seven runs in the third to break the game open taking an 11-3 lead.

Seward used four pitchers in the game with starter Michael Lujan (L, 0-1) getting tagged with the loss, allowing five earned runs.

Ramage continued to be hot at the plate for Seward finishing 3-4 with three RBI. Gus Eylar was 2-3 with an RBI.

The Saints used three runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull within four at 11-7, but Kirkwood had an answer with five seventh-inning runs, pushing it to 16-7.